2008 Olympics!

They're nearly here! I'm lucking out with the Olympics this year; I can stay up late/get up early and watch a lot of the events online as I have two weeks off between the end of work (the 8th) and the beginning of the semester (the 21st).

Do you know anyone who's going? What events do y'all plan to watch? Or do you not care at all?

I'm going to try and check out the weightlifting, judo, and taekwondo finals online, and I'll definitely be watching the baseball games on TV (or online if necessary). I'd also like to see some soccer, wrestling, boxing, and beach volleyball (the last for reasons that have nothing to do with talent).

I'm not sure which events I'll be following this time around. Last Summer Olympics I didn't get to watch much of, and the one before that I was really into track & field, but that interest has waned in 8 years. I'll probably just check in now and then until I connect with something.

and beach volleyball (the last for reasons that have nothing to do with talent).

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Hehe, women's handball, volleyball, track&field (some of it), and swimming/diving are good tips in that regard too.

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While I do appreciate a nice piece of T&A, who said anything about gals?

Yes, I'll probably try and see some of the track & field events, though that's not necessarily for the above reasons. Forgot to include that. They should be interesting, especially since the track athletes seem to be getting thrown out left and right. 7 Russian women were suspended by Russia's track agency today after they gave false urine samples to be tested; 3 of them were on the Olympic team.

I will watch whatever I can when I'm at home. The primetime coverage is usually a good synopsis of the day's major happenings. With online sources, any really great plays or moments are available after the fact, so I'm not too worried about missing something important.

I'd like to see the fencing, but NBC's coverage of the Olympics always sucks.

Free Tibet!

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You need our CBC coverage. Any event where the Canadians have a medal contender or even just a participant are covered live. And it's not only Canadian participants -- any event with well-known or interesting athletes tends to get covered live.

We've got medal hopefuls in the rowing events, and I want to see the men's gymnastics. Actually, I end up watching a little of most of it, except I really don't get the attraction of track -- it's the elite event, but it's over too fast. Plus, there's so much cheating...

I do enjoy the events such as cycling, where we get to see some of the country where the event happens, rather than the inside of an arena that could be anywhere.

But I'm a confirmed Winter Olympics junkie, at heart. Olympic hockey is much better than the regular stuff, because there's no fighting allowed.

Yes, but what if you accidentally hear the results in the meantime? I nearly slapped a taxi driver into the next century because he blabbed the results of the men's figure skating finals to me before I'd seen the nightly replay. After I knew the results, I had no interest in actually watching it.

I'm interested in ladies' gymnastics. I want to see how much the commentators discuss, or if they discuss, the fact that two of the Chinese gymnasts are possibly only 14 years old.

The Chinese have produced passports saying they're both 16 (you have to turn 16 by the end of the calendar year in ladies gymnastics to compete at worlds and olympics) but these girls are likely not 16. One of the gymnasts is the top scorer in the world on uneven bars. The shit's gonna fly--I hope--if this ineligible gymnast wins. Her name's He Kexin. There's a youtube video of her at a competition last year in which the announcer, speaking Arabic, refers to her as "the 13 year old He Kexin." The other top scorer on uneven bars worldwide is an American girl, Nastia Liukin. She's 18 years old, 5'3" tall. This Chinese girl is much smaller and much lighter. The rules raised the age of eligibility for ladies by one year because the female gymnasts were becoming so tiny (the strenuous training delaying puberty); the temptation to keep them tiny is not good for them and so forth and so on. There's talk of raising it to 18, but for now it's 16.

There are other online listings for events He Kexin competed in before she made the olympic squad, listings stating that she's only 14. There are too many "misprints" here and there saying that she's only 14. Her birthdate has been listed as January 1, 1994 in too many places. Even China Daily, China's English language newspaper, accused this little girl of only being 14. It printed a retraction a few days later, but they may have been "encouraged" to print a retraction. China hasn't produced a birth certificate for her. Only a passport, which states her birthday is January 1, 1992. There's a second girl, Jiang Yuyuan, about whom similar questions have been raised. In all fairness, the second girl may be 16 (there isn't nearly as much evidence on her) but the first girl? Very doubtful she's 16. Gymnasts tend to be small, and Chinese gymnasts particularly so, but she's awfully little. The tinier the gymnast, the more advantage she has. China wants to win really bad since its gymnasts are competing at home, but this is as corrupt as doping. I don't blame the girl. It's not like she can refuse. China is China after all. Other countries can file an official complaint, but they'll never be able to prove it, and supposedly they fear retaliation by Chinese judges underscoring their own athletes. Nice, huh? I can see why people were upset that Beijing was awarded the games.

...But in a speech on Nov. 3, 2007, in the central city of Wuhan, Liu Peng, director of general administration of sport for China, said: ``The 13-year-old uneven-bar gymnast He Kexin, who defeated national team athlete Yang Yilin - she just won the bronze medal in the world championships - has demonstrated her ability.'' To be eligible for the Cities Games where Liu made his remarks, Chinese documents show athletes must be over 13, but under 15. ...

Yes, but what if you accidentally hear the results in the meantime? I nearly slapped a taxi driver into the next century because he blabbed the results of the men's figure skating finals to me before I'd seen the nightly replay. After I knew the results, I had no interest in actually watching it.

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I think it's funny you had a taxi driver who admitted to watching the men's figure skating finals.

Yes, but what if you accidentally hear the results in the meantime? I nearly slapped a taxi driver into the next century because he blabbed the results of the men's figure skating finals to me before I'd seen the nightly replay. After I knew the results, I had no interest in actually watching it.

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I think it's funny you had a taxi driver who admitted to watching the men's figure skating finals.

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He hadn't seen them on TV, he heard the results on the radio. This was one of the times when the Olympics was in some time zone halfway across the world and over half a dozen time zones away from here (Lillehammer, I think).

And it's not so weird that a male taxi driver would watch men's figure skating, if there were any serious medal contenders. There was that year (Kurt Browning), but sadly Browning always choked at Olympics finals. I haven't paid much attention in recent years, but men's figure skating is a lot more masculine than it used to be -- much more athletic since the Canadians pioneered the quadruple jumps in competition.

My parents were all ready to go. They were really psyched about going. And now, almost at the last minute, they find that they can't go.

This is because my stepmom recently developed severe back pain. And so my dad, suspicious (IMHO, understandably so) about the state of Chinese medicine and not wanting to entrust her health to it in case the pain flared up again while over there - decided not to go.

Me, I personally don't care about the Olympics. I may watch the opening ceremonies, but that'd be it. I'm just sad that my parents had to cut their trip short because of something like this, because I know how much they wanted to go.

But in the end I suppose it's for the best; better that they stay home, where they know they can treat my stepmom's back pain if something goes wrong (they've never been to China before, they don't speak a single word of Chinese, and so are understandably skeptical about what would happen if she'd needed medical attention while there).

And given the state of China itself these days... Linky...I confess I wouldn't really want my parents going there even if back pain wasn't even an issue for them.